The first cutter named Raritan was one of four
110-foot tugs built for the Coast Guard in the late-1930s. They were a
follow-on to the 110-foot Calumet-class tugs and were capable of
breaking ice up to three feet thick. They were officially referred to
in the Coast Guard Description of Cutters document as a "Harbor
Cutter."

She was launched at the same time with her sister
cutter Naugatuck on 23 March 1939, the first dual launching to ever
take place in Bay City, Michigan. She was commissioned on 11 April
1939. During World War II she was transferred to Navy control and was
assigned to CINCLANT (DESLANT) and was home-ported in Boston. She was
among the first vessels assigned to the newly established South Greenland
Patrol. She escorted convoys to Greenland and back and patrolled in
Greenland waters.

During one escort mission in June, 1943, she was
sailing from Narsarssauak, Greenland to St. Johns, Newfoundland in company
with the U.S. Army transport Fairfax and the cutters Tampa, Mojave,
Algonquin, Storis and Escanaba. On 12 June the
convoy encountered a number of icebergs and dense fog. These
conditions continued on the morning of 13 June when observers aboard the Storis
spotted an enormous cloud of smoke and flames shooting upward from Escanaba's
position. Raritan and Storis sped to the scene only to
discover that the Escanaba had sunk. After 45 minutes of
searching, Raritan sighted and rescued two survivors and recovered a
body which they buried at sea the following morning. None of the other
100 crewmen of Escanaba were found. The cause of her sinking
remains a mystery.

From December 1942 into 1943 she assisted in building
LORAN stations in Greenland. On 1 September 1945 she was assigned to
the 7th Coast Guard District and was based out of Portsmouth, Virginia.
From 1963 to 1972 she served out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. On 20 August
1965 she assisted in the search for debris from a United Airlines crash in
Lake Michigan. From 1973 to 1979 she was stationed at Grand Haven,
Michigan. On 12 January 1973 she helped extinguish a fire aboard the
tanker Venus in Little Bay De Noc for which she received a Coast
Guard Unit Commendation. From 1980 to 1988 she was stationed at
Governors Island, New York. On 28 July 1987 she seized the M/V Sarah
off Long Beach, New York, for illegal commercial broadcasting from a ship.

She was decommissioned on 14 May 1988. She was
used for spare parts for a number of years after her retirement.